Pet Hates
If there’s one phrase in the English language that frustrates me more than any other it’s ‘you were’.
At first glance, there’s nothing wrong with the phrase. Sure, it can be used as an accusation, e.g. ‘you were the Chosen One!’, but that’s not my issue with the phrase. The thing that annoys me about ‘you were’ is mathematical.
How many people are you addressing? ‘You were’ is plural, so how can Anakin be the chosen ONE? As it happens, Anakin was the chosen one. Note, WAS. It isn’t Anakin were the chosen one.
‘I was’, ‘he was’, ‘she was’, ‘you was’, is a logical progression.
So, why do we insist that the singular instance of ‘you’ is expressed in the plural form?
Answer: English is a stupid language.
On a related note, why does ‘you is’ sound so wrong? If we’re looking at individuals, ‘he is’, ‘she is’, ‘you is’, is also a logical progression. Is it because the first-person version is ‘I am’ not ‘I is’?
At first glance, there’s nothing wrong with the phrase. Sure, it can be used as an accusation, e.g. ‘you were the Chosen One!’, but that’s not my issue with the phrase. The thing that annoys me about ‘you were’ is mathematical.
How many people are you addressing? ‘You were’ is plural, so how can Anakin be the chosen ONE? As it happens, Anakin was the chosen one. Note, WAS. It isn’t Anakin were the chosen one.
‘I was’, ‘he was’, ‘she was’, ‘you was’, is a logical progression.
So, why do we insist that the singular instance of ‘you’ is expressed in the plural form?
Answer: English is a stupid language.
On a related note, why does ‘you is’ sound so wrong? If we’re looking at individuals, ‘he is’, ‘she is’, ‘you is’, is also a logical progression. Is it because the first-person version is ‘I am’ not ‘I is’?
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